Dunga was decked out in an extravagant black-and-white floral shirt, but things were looking less rosy after he suffered his first defeat as Brazil coach last night. His recent opinion that Brazil do not have as many great players as might be believed appeared vindicated, when in the absence of a few star players, they lost to Portugal at the Emirates Stadium.

Brazil began vigorously, slicing open their opponents, but they succumbed to goals inside the final ten minutes from Simão and Ricardo Carvalho, the Chelsea defender, who was watched by José Mourinho, his club manager.

Dunga was appointed to assert his determined style on a squad that was perceived to be lacking discipline. He has dropped Ronaldo, Roberto Carlos, Cafu and Dida, but he might have done with the trickery of Ronaldinho and Robinho, who both withdrew with injury.

Dunga was not looking for excuses, though. “When you lose it is responsibility of the coach,” he said. “Some problems showed up in previous matches but when you lose it becomes more evident. We needed more patience with the ball. I thought we would win but when you lose, it is hard.”

Brazil began with a carefree attacking attitude, stroking the ball with speed and precision to the accompaniment of whistles and cheers from a carnival crowd. They created three opportunities for the lively Rafael Sobis, but the forward was wasteful.

Their best chance came on the stroke of half-time. Elano’s free kick deflected off the wall into the path of Lúcio, but the Bayern Munich defender swivelled and blazed the ball on to the crossbar from a few yards. “We had some physical problems in the second half, and some of the players were clamming up,” Dunga said.

It was Portugal’s second victory against their opponents in the past four years. The first came shortly after Luiz Felipe Scolari, their coach, had steered Brazil to the World Cup in 2002.

Cristiano Ronaldo was named Portugal captain for the first time last night at the request of Carlos Silva, the vice-president of the Portuguese football federation, who died at the weekend. “He said that I should give him the opportunity to be captain because he has had some difficulties with the public in England,” Scolari said. “I am not sure what we will do about it in the next game.”

The winger was largely quiet, briefly dazzled midway through the first half, but was mostly upended, as when a sequence of step-overs was brought to a thumping conclusion by Edmilson.

A poor second half was littered with mistakes, substitutions and lethargy but few opportunities until the last ten minutes. Then, Ricardo Quaresma latched on to a poor clearance from Helton, the Brazil goalkeeper, and crossed for Simão to fire in.

Just before the end, Hugo Viana’s cross was swept home by Carvalho. “We made better use of the opportunities,” Scolari said. “This will be good for our self-esteem, confidence and credibility and it will give us more ammunition for future tests ahead.”

— Mileage: Rio to London: 5,745

— Lisbon to London: 972

Star man

Elano The Shakhtar Donetsk midfield player embodies Dunga’s ideas about obtaining an attacking and defensive balance. In many ways, with his intelligent movement and swift passing, he replicates the pragmatic and tireless approach provided by his coach when he was Brazil captain. Now prominent, he made his debut in 2004 and scored twice against Argentina in the friendly at the Emirates in September.

New face

Rafael Sobis Only his sixth cap, but the 21-year-old showed sporadic glimpses in the first half why he was the star of the 2006 Copa Libertadores, although he wasted the opportunities. Brave and tenacious, he has scored 19 goals in 35 matches for Internacional

Entertainment

A sure sign that a bright attacking display dribbled depressingly away came in the form of a Mexican wave

Teams

Brazil (4-4-2): Helton — Maicon (sub: D Alves, 63min), Lúcio (sub: Luisão, 46), Juan, Gilberto — Elano, Gilberto Silva, Edmilson (sub: Tinga, 63), Kaká — Fred (sub: Diego, 68), R Sobis (sub: Adriano, 46). Substitutes not used: J César, A Correia, D Cearense. Booked: Edmilson.

Portugal (4-3-3): Ricardo — Miguel, R Carvalho, J Andrade, Caneira (sub: P Ferreira, 46) — Tiago (sub: J Moutinho, 68), Petit, Deco (sub: H Viana, 61) — C Ronaldo (sub: Simão, 63), H Postiga (sub: N Gomes, 75), R Quaresma. Substitutes not used: Quim, F Meira, R Meireles, M da Costa. Booked: Tiago. Referee: M Atkinson.

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